TV. Food. Pop Culture.

Main menu

ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Ina Garten’s Tuna and Hummus Sandwich

Earlier this week, I made a batch of Ina Garten’s wonderful tuna salad in anticipation of assembling her Tuna and Hummus Sandwiches — one of her few healthy recipes. Well, I’m happy to report that I’ve since made some hummus (partially Ina’s recipe, partially my own), and today, I was able to finally move forward with my lofty ambitious sandwich plans.

Photos of this momentous occasion after the jump…

First we start with the tuna salad I had previously made. HOW EASY IS THAT?

Next I reveal my GOOD hummus. It’s actually a very strong batch (both in terms of garlic power and general awesomeness).

I drizzle some olive oil on a slice of sourdough and toast it, but I’m too hungry to wait for grill lines to appear. I yank it out of the toaster oven when it’s warm and crispy.

Next I slather on some hummus. It’s a generous serving, but about as much as Ina used when she made this sandwich on her show two weeks ago.

I top it all off with some radish slices.

My first bite. Mmmmm…

Macro shot!

The Verdict: DELICIOUS. This sandwich, aside from being high in protein and low in fat, is wonderful! It’s so full of flavor and interesting texture that it should certainly be in everyone’s sandwich rotation. What’s also impressive about it is that it takes two fairly standard pantry items — tuna and hummus — and elevates them to gourmet status. I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow…

do you, strictly speaking, *have* to put celery in tuna salad? i dislike celery, in my tuna salad, i’ll tolerate it. any ideas for a replacement? scallions? or would that give it too strong an onion-y flavor? good recipe – like that you tried it open faced (i’d do the same to reduce carbs)

This seems like a really weird combo to me. But what do I know? I just mixed my beet and onion salad with my egg and potato salad. Anyhoo… how does your hoooomis recipe differ from Ina’s? I’ve always made my own, but that god damn Sabra is always buy one/get one and if you use a coupon, pfft, they practically pay you $10 to buy it. How easy is THAT?

I blogged about hummus ages ago. But here’s what Ina says and what I did:

Ina says to take 1/3c of tahini, a can of garbanzo beans, 6 tbs of lemon juice, and 4 cloves of garlic and whip it all together in a food processor, adding some reserved garbanzo bean liquid to thin it out. She also adds tabasco.

I use similar ingredients but a slightly different method. I first “cream” the tahini and the lemon juice in the food processor. Then I add minced garlic and pulverize in the food processor some more. Then I add the beans and let the machine go at it.

To thin it, I drizzle in olive oil. But since I don’t want this to be super fatty, I also then switch over to the garbanzo bean liquid. Also, red pepper flakes are always fun. I taste as I go along and add more lemon juice and/or garlic as necessary. In the past I’ve tossed in parsley, chives, roasted red peppers, chili oil, yogurt, paprika. It’s all good!

I’ve never been a big fan of tuna but this looks too good not to try, and since the temps here on Long Island are supposed to reach 100+ tomorrow, I think I know exactly what I’ll be making for dinner.